Image: PTI
How has 60 percent of Gujarat’s 18-44 age group received its first dose on May 1, 2021 while other states declared a shortage of stock, questioned experts looking at data as the third phase of India’s Covid-19 vaccination drive began.
Following the commencement of the new phase, most Indian states said they did not have enough stock of vaccines for the aforementioned age-groups. Only six states started the new process on time using ‘token’ stocks. However, data has shown that of the 86,023 people vaccinated on Saturday, 60 percent of the doses were administered in Gujarat.
According to the Union Health Ministry on May 2, as many as 86,023 beneficiaries across 11 states in the 18-44 age group received their first dose. Among them, Gujarat administered the highest number of vaccines to 51,622 people.
“86,023 beneficiaries of the age group 18-44 years received their first dose of COVID vaccine across 11 States. These states are Chhattisgarh (987), Delhi (1,472), Gujarat (51,622), Jammu and Kashmir (201), Karnataka (649), Maharashtra (12,525), Odisha (97), Punjab (298), Rajasthan (1853), Tamil Nadu (527) and UP (15,792),” said the government press release.
Former Union Minister and Karnataka Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh is now asking why only 11 states were able to vaccinate people and why Gujarat accounted for over 50 percent of those vaccinations, reported The News Minute.
While media reports said that the BJP-led Gujarat government recently procured 1.5 crore coronavirus doses for the new age group in the third phase, other states were talking about a shortage of vaccines and the latest guidelines for vaccine procurement.
Earlier, the central government announced that state governments were to collect vaccinations for the 18-44 age group directly from vaccine manufacturers in the open market while competing with private companies. Meanwhile, manufacturers are to provide 50 percent of their vaccines to the Centre that will in return allocate the doses to states for the above-45 years age group and essential service workers. As per the directive this allotment depends on each state’s ability to vaccinate more people while lowering vaccine wastage rates.
“Cumulatively, 15,68,16,031 vaccine doses have been administered through 22,93,911 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 AM,” said the Ministry press release. The beneficiaries included 94,28,490 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have taken the first dose and 62,65,397 HCWs who have taken the second dose, 1,27,57,529 frontline workers (FLWs) who received the first dose and 69,22,093 FLWs who took the second dose.
It may be noted that as per an updated notice by the Ministry 17.02 crore vaccine doses (17,02,42,410) have been administered to states and union territories as of May 5. Of this, the total consumption including wastages is 16,07,94,796 doses. The central government also said that over 94.47 lakh vaccine doses (94,47,614) are still available with states.
As per a May 5 press release, the percentage of wastage reported is as follows:
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